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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
John Plunkett

Happy 50th birthday, Westwood

Put your finger in the air and press it four times! Oh yes, and blow out the candles on your birthday cake, hard brother - Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood is 50 today. Understand that!

A few days after Radio 1 celebrated its 40th birthday, it is perhaps unusual that the station whose principal audience is teenagers and early 20-somethings has a DJ who is 10 years older than it is.

But Westwood - AKA "Big Dawg" - is one of Radio 1's longest-serving DJs and also, among his audience, one of the most respected. And anyway, where else would he go? Radio 2?

If you have only heard him on the radio, you might be surprised to learn that Westwood is the Lowestoft-born 50-year-old son of the former Anglican Bishop of Peterborough.

In fact, even if you have seen him on MTV's Pimp My Ride, you might still be surprised. He's certainly worn well - it must be all that bowing down and kissing the ring. That's one of his catchphrases, by the way.

Ah yes, the catchphrases. Thanks to the wonder of Radio 1's Westwood Soundboard - I can't get enough of this - you can play them again, and again, and again.

"Take it down south!" "Understand that!" "Let's goooo!"

Westwood worked on London station Kiss when it was still a pirate station, and had hs TV big break in the 1980s on ITV's Night Network. Remember that?

He made headlines of an unfortunate sort in 1999 when he was shot in a drive-by shooting in south London.

Westwood was also, it has been said, the inspiration for Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G. Doesn't take a giant stretch of the imagination, that one.

Get your hustle on baby! Strap it up before you slap it up - always wear a latex if possible. Exackly! Happy birthday, Westwood.

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